Anna Fenninger produced a Giant Slalom master class for the world to see in winning her second career World Cup Giant Slalom. From a start number of 4 on the first run, the HEAD World Cup Rebel showed the rest how to ski the soft snow as she opened up a lead of over half a second on the rest of the field. By the time she crossed the line after the second run this had extended to over a second (1.10 seconds) ahead of Tina Maze and Tessa Worley who placed second and third.

Fenninger had never lead the field after the first run in a World Cup race before yet was relaxed and focused in the start for the second run. At the start of the second run Fenninger told herself that if she did not take risks on the run, there would no fun. It was to be all or nothing.

With the first run giving later runners little chance of making the cut due to the wind and falling snow, the pressure on the faster racers from the first run to stay with the pace was evident.

From tenth place after the first run Lizzi Goergl put in a much improved second run that saw her give the clenched fist of delight in the finish. Goergl went on to place ninth overall: “I am much happier with my second run,” explained Goergl

Maria Hoefl-Riesch was another HEAD racer to return to form and was delighted with her fourth place result: “To be fighting against the best girls in the world again makes me excited,” explained Hoefl-Riesch afterwards, “I am happy with the result.”

While Maze and Worley swapped places after the first run, Fenninger showed the rest of the field how to cope with the conditions with the fastest time on both runs as she stormed to a win 1.10 seconds ahead of the rest of the field: “I do not think about the gap, I just try to ski my best,” explained Fenninger after the race. This was Fenninger’s second career World Cup win and moves her up to fourth in the race for the Giant Slalom Globe. Tina Maze added after the race that she now considers Fenninger as one of her main rivals for the World Championships in Schladming in February 2013.